How English Games Help Children Learn

There are many ways to teach ESL/TEFL to children but one of the most exciting and rewarding ways to do it is by using English games. English Games not only engage the children, but also teach through play – and most of the time the children don’t even know they are learning until the time comes to show their knowledge! It truly is possible (and almost necessary) to create a classroom where the students not only learn but also truly enjoy their time there.

Incorporating English games into the classroom can build interest in the class, put language in an interesting and meaningful context, give students a break from the pressures of learning a new language while giving the break a purpose, teach real world skills and, most importantly, build the
student/teacher bond.

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Basic TEFL Qualifications

This page sets out to answer some of the most common questions about requirements and qualifications for anyone interested in a TEFL/TESL career.

Is there an age limit for TEFL?
People of all ages teach English. Indeed, many trainees in TEFL certificate courses have retired from their traditional professional lives. Schools often favour more mature teachers who can perhaps bring the benefit of business or professional experience to their lessons. Many people have started a second career in TEFL in middle age.

Do I need to be qualified to teach EFL?
Qualifications are not always essential, especially in certain parts of the world and for certain schools. In some countries, simply being a native speaker of English is enough. In others, a university degree in any subject, without any teaching or English qualifications, will suffice. Having said that, there is no doubt that a recognised TEFL qualification of some kind will open more doors, more rapidly, in more countries and at higher salaries. It will also be of practical value to you personally - not to mention your students - in giving you the confidence, skills and experience that will put you at ease in a classroom.

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Practice for modals of possibility/probability

Written by Alex Case for EnglishClub.com

Despite the long and fancy name “modals of possibility and probability”, with this grammar point we are basically talking here about language used for guessing and so if you get students doing that you have a suitable situation to elicit and/or practise this language.

Possible stimuli to make students guess include pictures, stories, videos, objects, music, other recordings, and language. In all those cases, you can turn the activity into more intensive practice of the range of probabilities from “must be/must have been” to “could be/could have been” by asking them to “bet” on their guess. Give each expression a number of points by how sure it is, e.g. one point for “could possibly be” up to seven points for “must be…, no doubt about it”. Students choose an expression with one of those levels of certainty and make a guess, then gain or lose that many points depending on whether those guesses are correct or not.

Activities that are specific to one kind of stimulus are given below.

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The changing winds and shifting sands of the history of English Language Teaching

Dimitrios Thanasoulas

Introduction

As the title implies, the English language teaching tradition has been subjected to a tremendous change, especially throughout the twentieth century. Perhaps more than any other discipline, this tradition has been practiced, in various adaptations, in language classrooms all around the world for centuries. While the teaching of Maths or Physics, that is, the methodology of teaching Maths or Physics, has, to a greater or lesser extent, remained the same, this is hardly the case with English or language teaching in general. As will become evident in this short paper, there are some milestones in the development of this tradition, which we will briefly touch upon, in an attempt to reveal the importance of research in the selection and implementation of the optimal methods and techniques for language teaching and learning.

The Classical Method

In the Western world back in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, foreign language learning was associated with the learning of Latin and Greek, both supposed to promote their speakers' intellectuality. At the time, it was of vital importance to focus on grammatical rules, syntactic structures, along with rote memorisation of vocabulary and translation of literary texts. There was no provision for the oral use of the languages under study; after all, both Latin and Greek were not being taught for oral communication but for the sake of their speakers' becoming "scholarly?" or creating an illusion of "erudition." Late in the nineteenth century, the Classical Method came to be known as the Grammar Translation Method, which offered very little beyond an insight into the grammatical rules attending the process of translating from the second to the native language.

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European Policies in TEFL Teacher Education

The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 2008, 1, 1-8 1
1874-9135/08 2008 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

José Manuel Vez*
Director of the OAL (Observatorio Atrium Linguarum), Institute for Education Sciences. University of Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
Abstract: This research article attempts to create a link between the problems that arise when we try to introduce a
European dimension in foreign language teaching, particularly with respect to the role teacher education institutions and
programmes should play. A shift in emphasis in foreign language teaching from form-oriented to more communication oriented
work and culture-oriented work should not only make TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language)
approaches in Europe more efficient and effective, but also, at the same time, offer the chance of introducing a European
dimension into the very heart of the teaching of English as a foreign language. This means that EFL (English as a Foreign
Language) teachers, more responsibly and knowledgeably than was the case in the past, will give shape to a kind of
intercultural foreign language education in which the unique ways of communicating in the various European
communities are highlighted.

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In-Service TEFL – Is it Worth the Risk?

by Brian Tomlinson
1. Assumption
It seems to be universally taken for granted that it is necessary and worthwhile to run short, intensive
courses to bring teachers of TEFL up to date. It is assumed that teachers cannot independently cope
with the incessant flood of new theories, ideas and materials in TEFL and that the best way to help
them is to bring them together in a lecture room or classroom to receive new information. This is the
assumption behind the short “refresher” courses run by universities and language schools, by
ministries of education and by British Council “spec tourists” all over the world. For twenty years I have
been helping to run such courses and have been fairly confident that I have been successful in
providing positive stimulus to most of the teachers I have worked with. Now I am not so sure. Many of
them might have gone back to their schools feeling refreshed and possibly even inspired; but how
many of them really gained anything of any lasting value from the courses? And how much did they
lose?
My growing fears that short in-service courses are potentially dangerous have been reinforced by
meetings and correspondence with ex-participants of such courses who feel guilty and inadequate
because they have not been able to do what their courses inspired them to try, and in particular, by my
current experience on the PKG Project in Indonesia. For the first time in my career I have had the
opportunity to really find out the effects of in-service courses I have run or observed. Three times a
year I run in –service workshops for the same group of teacher trainers from all over the country.
Twice a year these teacher trainers run 16 week in-on service courses for experienced teachers in
their provinces. For two weeks the teachers do a very intensive course in the provincial capital and
then they return to their schools for six weeks. During these six weeks they attend weekly meetings
with their teacher trainers in their provincial capital and they are observed by them at least five times in
their schools. Then they return for another two weeks intensive courses and finally they spend another
six weeks teaching in their schools, being observed and attending weekly meetings. A lot has been
achieved using this system but I am absolutely convinced that it would have been disastrous for the
teacher trainers or the teachers to have just done one in-service course. The motivation and stimulus
they had gained would soon have been negated by the confusion and frustration they would have
suffered in trying to apply all that they had learned and the guilt and inadequacy they would have felt

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Culture Shock

Welcome to your new country. You're come here for fun, excitement, change, challenge, and perhaps money. Will the locals speak your language? I'm not trying to scare you, but perhaps they won't. Will some people there speak your language, oh most definitely. This is only one of the things that you may have to think about when you plan on going to a new country.

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Minimal Pairs

Written by Alex Case for EnglishClub.com

Although the idea of using pairs like “ship and sheep” in class is hardly new, I still think that minimal pairs are underexploited. This article will look at the many different ways minimal pairs can be used and give some classroom ideas.

Selecting minimal pairs

Minimal pairs can be defined as two words which only differ by a single sound, such as “tree” and “three”. This potentially huge list of words is usually cut down by limiting it to words that differ in ways that students often misunderstand and/ or cannot produce. Which sounds, and therefore which words, are relevant can often be guessed from students’ first language, e.g. choosing “bat” and “bet” for Korean students. The list of sounds that people find difficult can often be further cut down by eliminating ones that they don’t in fact have (many) problems with. This could be due to their own dialect or other languages they speak having both sounds, or borrowing of words with that sound into their language.

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Names In The English Language Classroom

Written by Alex Case for EnglishClub.com

This article is about the many tricky issues surrounding the use of student and teacher names in class.

Information you will want to know before you make decisions on the use of names in class includes:

• If they are already likely to have “English names”
• What their attitude to “English names” might be
• How they would be expected to be addressed in the classroom in their own language, including whether it would vary from person to person (e.g. because of age or status)
• How much they will expect or be prepared to accept forms of address in an English class that are different to what would be usual in their language
• What previous teachers have done
• How their name is pronounced in their own language
• If there are any mispronunciations to be particularly careful to avoid (e.g. because it would make their name sound like a rude word in their language)
• Other cultural differences (e.g. putting surname first)

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Teaching Continuous tenses

Written by Alex Case for TEFL.net

Students are sometimes shocked at the end of an Intermediate or Upper Intermediate textbook to find that there is yet another tense waiting for them there – often the Future Continuous, but perhaps instead the infamous Past Perfect Continuous or even the Future Perfect Continuous. The structure of will + be + ing should be fairly straightforward for them if they know be + ing of the Present Continuous, and ditto for had + been + ing if they know have + been + ing from the Present Perfect Continuous. It must therefore be the meaning that is producing the panic or groans.

Luckily for those panicking students, the meanings of those more unusual Continuous tenses will actually turn out to be just as familiar as the structures if you explain them in the right way and show them the links in meaning to tenses they already know. For example, the Future Continuous is basically the Present Continuous shifted into the future and the Past Perfect Continuous is just like the Present Perfect Continuous but with a past point in time as the reference point. In fact, all Continuous tenses share a common set of meanings. These meanings might not be quite as easy to explain as the structure be + ing, but are every bit as generalisable and useful. In fact, I once read a suggestion that there is no such thing as tenses but just the Simple, Continuous and Perfect aspects – which should always be taught as such. I wouldn’t go that far myself, but introducing the similarities to students who already know a few Continuous tenses can turn what seemed like another complication into a simplification of all that has gone before. The similarities also suggest that native speakers must subconsciously group all Continuous tenses together, so hopefully we can help our students do the same.

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Using Volunteers in your ESL Classroom: Suggestions for Newer Teachers

The Internet TESL Journal

Kate Singleton
morganca [at] erols.com
Arlington Education and Employment Program (Arlington, Virginia, USA)

Picture this: You've just received word from your volunteer coordinator that a brand new, eager volunteer will be starting with your class next Monday. What are you going to do?

Volunteers can be a tremendous asset in the ESL classroom. They can help you give extra attention to all of the students while the class is engaged in practice activities, or they can give extra help to small groups or individuals in the class.

However, as you begin to use volunteers in your classroom, you will need to put a little extra time into planning how you'd like to put them to use, and you will need to designate time either before or during class (sometimes volunteers have to arrive late because of their work schedules) for clarifying your plans with the volunteer. The time it takes to do the extra planning is well worth it, though; it also decreases as you get used to it and build up your supply of strategies for using volunteers. And as your volunteer becomes more acquainted with your students' needs and your teaching style, he or she usually requires less explanation of activities. In general, the gains to your students and yourself far outweigh the bit of extra effort initially needed in using volunteers.

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General Explanations For English Future Forms

Written by Alex Case for TEFL.net

The range of verb forms used in English to talk about the future is one of the most difficult parts of the language. Misconceptions like “Present Continuous is for the near future” are common, sometimes for reasons of L1 interference but often because of misteaching. This article will give advice on how to present the most common future tenses in the easiest to understand and most generalisable way.

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Improving Teacher-Student Interaction in the EFL Classroom: An Action Research Report Jonathan Snell

The Internet TESL Journal
j_snell [at] yahoo.com
Toyo Women's College (Tokyo, Japan)

A common problem for EFL teachers is dealing with a passive class, where students are unresponsive and avoid interaction with the teacher. This is especially true when a teacher seeks interaction in a teacher-class dialog, such as asking questions to the class as a whole, expecting at least one student to respond. This can be a frustrating experience for both parties. Obviously, there will be times when no student can answer a teacher's question, but often students do not answer even if they understand the question, know the answer, and are able to produce the answer. Furthermore, students can often be very reluctant to give feedback or ask the teacher a question in front of the class. This action research project attempted to explore this problem and sought to create a more interactive teacher-class interchange in one class of Japanese adult English learners.

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Combining collocations and pronunciation

Written by Alex Case for TEFL.net

Collocations are words that naturally go together, such as combinations of verbs and nouns (“go swimming”) and idiomatic phrases (“run me ragged”). There are many articles bemoaning the fact that chunks of language such as these don’t get enough attention, but that is perhaps understandable when we see how uncommunicative and boring many common practice activities are. Much the same thing could be said for doing more pronunciation in the EFL classroom. Luckily, it is possible to combine the two in ways that kill two birds with one stone while being more useful than practising either of those two things alone.

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Language Learning Strategies: An Overview for L2 Teachers

The Internet TESL Journal

Michael Lessard-Clouston
z95014 [at] kgupyr.kwansei.ac.jp
Kwansei Gakuin University (Nishinomiya, Japan)

First published in Essays in Languages and Literatures, 8, at Kwansei Gakuin University, December 1997.

This article provides an overview of language learning strategies (LLS) for second and foreign language (L2/FL) teachers. To do so it outlines the background of LLS and LLS training, discusses a three step approach teachers may follow in using LLS in their classes, and summarises key reflections and questions for future research on this aspect of L2/FL education. It also lists helpful contacts and internet sites where readers may access up-to-date information on LLS teaching and research.

Introduction

Within the field of education over the last few decades a gradual but significant shift has taken place, resulting in less emphasis on teachers and teaching and greater stress on learners and learning. This change has been reflected in various ways in language education and applied linguistics, ranging from the Northeast Conference (1990) entitled "Shifting the Instructional Focus to the Learner" and annual "Learners' Conferences" held in conjuction with the TESL Canada convention since 1991, to key works on "the learner-centred curriculum" (Nunan, 1988, 1995) and "learner-centredness as language education" (Tudor, 1996).

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Teaching Benefit Classes

Written by Alex Case for TEFL.net

What they are and why you should worry about them

I did a two-week course in teaching Business English about 12 years ago, and its emphasis on needs analysis and course design to match the specific needs of any group of students has probably had more influence on my teaching than any other course I have taken. There is one very common kind of in-company class that the course didn’t prepare me at all for though – the dreaded benefit class.

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Pathways to Multilingualism: Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education.

Tara W. Fortune and Diane J. Tedick (eds):

Tara W. Fortune, and Diane J. Tedick (eds): PATHWAYS TO MULTILINGUALISM: EVOLVING PERSPECTIVES ON IMMERSION EDUCATION. Multilingual Matters, 2008.

1. Reviewed by David Lasagabaster

+ Author Affiliations

1. University of the Basque Country, Spain E-mail: [e-mail]

It is hard to believe that there are still some voices which question the social, psychological, psycholinguistic, cognitive and educational benefits of additive bilingualism. This biased viewpoint is mainly based on spurious reasons and has little to do with what we know through research. Donna Christian points out in the Foreword of this edited volume that there are currently about 600 immersion schools in the USA that represent well over 100,000 students, significant figures on their own, but far below other contexts such as Spain, whose population (44 million) is much smaller than that of the USA (ca. 310 million), but where there are more students involved in immersion programs than in the USA as a whole. This indicates the importance and very timely contribution of this excellent volume to furthering professional understanding of immersion education, especially at a time when in those parts of the world where English is the mother tongue of the majority of the population (represented by the so-called inner circle countries), there is very little interest in learning other languages.

The book is divided into 13 chapters: the editors' introduction is followed by 11 chapters written by leading researchers in the field, and a concluding synthesis. The introductory chapter is very much welcomed, as it deals with the current terminological mess concerning bilingual education and immersion programs that undoubtedly needs to be clarified. This lack of accurate labeling of programs may remind us of the Orwellian doublespeak which disguises and distorts the real nature—in this case—of immersion programs, as terminological ambiguity hampers coherent design and implementation. The editors begin the volume by offering a reader-friendly description of immersion education and, more precisely, of the three types of immersion programs discussed in the volume: one-way foreign language immersion, two-way immersion and indigenous immersion.

Teach Students to Interact, Not Just Talk

The Internet TESL Journal

Gerard Counihan
profesorSs [at] blabla.es

The following is a short article with practical tips for EFL teachers who want to get their students (L2s) talking in conversation class as they do when they are outside the classroom and with friends-that is, interacting.

Very often in EFL there are two major types of talk; the teacher's (usually in the form of a question, or a request to practise a structure) and the L2's (usually a straight answer to the question posed by the teacher or a drill-type operation which sees the L2 inserting his own information into the gaps provided). This, effectively, is evidence of verbal exchange, but surely at its very minimum, and driest. It certainly complies with a certain pedagogical, learning-driven concept of EFL conversation. But is it interacting as natives do? Do natives participating in a normal conversation have the benefit of a person (a teacher) who is constantly ready to keep the flow of talk going with questions and drill-practise? Is the latter interaction?

Interaction involves bot

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Brainstorming Before Speaking Tasks

The Internet TESL Journal

Brian Cullen
brian [at] celtic-otter.com

Brainstorming is an activity used to generate ideas in small groups. The purpose is to generate as many ideas as possible within a specified time-period. These ideas are not evaluated until the end and a wide range of ideas is often produced. Each idea produced does not need to be usable. Instead, initial ideas can be be viewed as a starting point for more workable ideas. The principle of brainstorming is that you need lots of ideas to get good ideas.

Brainstorming has a wide range of applications. Since 1930, it has been used successfully in business for invention and innovation (VanGundy, 1981). In the language classroom, brainstorming is often used in teaching writing. Activities such as free-association and word-mapping are often included as part of the pre-writing or warm-up phase (Richards, 1990:112).

Is brainstorming useful in teaching conversation? In particular, is it a useful activity for warm-up in conversation classes? This paper will help answer this question. Section A shows how brainstorming can help our students to become better learners. Section B describes a research study on brainstorming in the conversation classroom. Section C gives some simple brainstorming techniques.

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Encouraging English Expression through Script-based Improvisations

The Internet TESL Journal

Manette R. Berlinger
Satelight5 [at] aol.com
Queensborough Community College, City University of New York (New York, USA)

Abstract

Dialogues, scenes and plays that approximate real communication provide a dynamic format in which language skills can be introduced and reinforced. Improvisation greatly enhances this approach. This article describes how students can create an original dramatic production starting with a "kernel" situation, scripting the opening lines of each scene and improvising a plot that adds characters until every student is included. While rehearsals reinforce the correct scripted language, the improvisation encourages students to mobilize their vocabulary, respond to grammatical and syntactical cues, develop cultural and social awareness, and gain confidence and fluency.

Introduction

Scripts have long been employed in ESL instruction because they permit students to actively acquire the vocabulary, idioms, grammar and syntax of English speech. All dramatic works--dialogues, scenes, or plays--demonstrate both the cognitive principle that information is best assimilated through more than one sensory route, and the behavioral notion that repeated action imprints knowledge upon the mind. Because they involve all aspects of language, scripts that are rehearsed in class can offer students a dynamic encounter with language that comes closest to real communication.

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A Group Introduction Activity to Create a Safe Atmosphere

The Internet TESL Journal

Clay Bussinger
c-bussin [at] sophia.ac.jp
Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus (Tokyo, Japan)

In a large ESL class, which meets once or twice a week, students often feel reticent in speaking. I found that having students help create a safe environment for themselves allows them to use the language more readily. Group introductions seem to work very well in this pursuit.

A Problem: Large Classes Inhibit Students From Speaking Easily

Many students come to the classroom with their friends, or acquaintances they've made from their major. There is a danger of a class becoming fractured into groups, cliques, from the outset. To create a truly safe ESL-learning environment, I believe the class should come together as a whole, become a single unit. While there may be no possible way to quantify the effectiveness of using group introductions in creating a supportive, open atmosphere in a language class, I have definitely noticed a marked improvement in the atmosphere in my classes since I began using them.

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Cultural Kickboxing in the ESL Classroom: Encouraging Active Participation

The Internet TESL Journal

Jan Guidry Lacina
mjlacina [at] sfaadm.sfasu.edu
Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, TX, USA)

Kickboxing has become a popular sport in the United States. The goal of the sport is to achieve an aerobic workout while attempting to stay in groove with the rest of the aerobic group; it is merely a new form of extreme high impact aerobics. English teachers often participate in a form of cultural kickboxing when teaching Korean and Japanese students. This sport, at the academic level, occurs in the classroom since both groups sometimes compete against each other, and there is often a cultural conflict between the two groups and the English as a second language (ESL) American teacher. These students’ expectations often conflict with American curricula that encourage a student-centered environment in the ESL classroom. This article explores Korean and Japanese students’ classroom expectations of the teaching and learning process in the United States and suggestions are given to help ESL teachers encourage a classroom in which multiple cultures can work cohesively together toward their common goal of learning English.

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What to Do with Failing Students

Marty Dawley
Mrvolvo [at] aol.com
Spring International Language Center
5900 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado, USA 80120

Why does failure bother teachers so much? When the student fails, we feel we have failed.

Over the years I have found that one of the biggest problems my colleagues have is the feeling of personal failure that comes when their teaching doesn't work, when they teach, but some students just won't learn. I always encourage them not to ignore the problem, but instead to make it their responsibility to try to help those failing students find a way to succeed. Success does not always mean passing a class or even learning the material. Sometimes it means students must learn other lessons about themselves and how to work in school and the world. Sometimes the results of your work still seem negligible or even negative, but trying to help is our solemn responsibility. Looking at the whole student and trying to help him learn how to accomplish his goals or choose other goals is a major part of our jobs. What is failure? Failure is when a student doesn't leave the class knowing more than when he entered. There are many types of failing students. They all deserve our help.

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Encouraging Students to Interact with the Teacher

Roger Nunn
nunn [at] cc.kochi-u.ac.jp
Kochi University (Kochi, Japan)Conversational analysts place great emphasis on the fact that conversation is a participant-managed system in which there is a constant process of adjustment between participants to ensure that real communication takes place. This is particularly true when communication is between members of different cultures, between, for example, my Japanese students and myself, a British teacher. Of particular relevance to this discussion is the notion of self-selection. Self-selection is a term used in the analysis of turn-taking to indicate that a speaker was not nominated to speak by another participant, but selected him or herself (Sacks et al. (1978:12/13)). In the case of teacher-fronted classroom interaction, it is difficult to persuade students that they may self-select when the teacher is speaking. The formal setting of the classroom and large class sizes exacerbate this difficulty. This lesson plan aims at initiating a system which encourages students to self-select whenever they haven't understood

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Let Your Students Teach Their Class

The Internet TESL Journal

Naoyoshi Ogawa
ogawa [at] nagasaki-noc.or.jp
Dennis E. Wilkinson
gene [at] nagasaki-noc.or.jp
Prefectural Women's Junior College, Nagasaki, Japan

This paper presents a step-by-step description of a student-centered teaching technique for assisting students to a higher skill level by challenging them to teach their class. First, as a foundation for the technique, four topics of current theoretical interest are introduced: Neo-Vygotskian learning theory; research on the application of cognitive psychology to education; evaluation of communication strategies; and teachers' reports as instruments of assessment. Next, practical explanations for having students teach are covered in the Rationale section. The technique is then given in a prescriptive paradigm with examples. Finally, three students' reports are analyzed to demonstrate how reflection on teaching experiences raises students' consciousness beyond mere memory of communication strategies to self-understanding and empathy with both the teacher and other learners.

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Perpetual Motion: Keeping the Language Classroom Moving

The Internet TESL Journal

Christopher Kelen
csquared [at] netvigator.com
SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School and the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Big class? Small room? Needing to regularly shift modes of interaction (groups, pairs, big circle)? Do you have trouble motivating students to actually move? Noisy scraping chairs? Are students getting stuck in cliques and clamming up? Or is your 'group-work' only in English when you are within earshot?

In any of these circumstances the panauricon could be the classroom management tool for you.

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Roll With the Punches. Interesting Ways to Call Roll in Japan

Lawrence Klepinger
Sugiyama University (Nagoya, Japan) I used to hate calling roll. It was a drag and a total waste of time. But for educational carpetbaggers - teachers who rely on tape recorders in class, hand-outs by the bulk, and the perennial question of, "What did you do last weekend?" - taking roll is a great way to eat up time, slide through yet another class of boring "fill in the blanks," collect a paycheck, and laugh all the way to the bank. I once had a student tell me that in a certain teacher's class she only said one word all year long. I asked her what that word was. "Here," she said with a rueful sigh of resignation. Yet, with a little ingenuity and a penchant toward the absurd, calling roll "with a twist" can lead to spontaneous conversation, spiced with humor and even a bit of learning thrown in for good measure, without the student ever knowing what is going on. With a minimal amount of Japanese knowledge, any teacher can make the arduous task of calling roll an event to look forward to. Here is how it work

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Intermediate Level Syllabus Outline

This syllabus provides a general outline proposal for creating courses for intermediate level students. This syllabus can be easily adapted for individual classes while retaining an overall structure aimed at helping students acquire the language they need to communicate.

120 hours total comprised of:

• 80 hours theoretical
• 30 hours practical applications
• 2 hours of final examination and evaluation

Course Objectives

• Daily life interrogative and discourse capabilities
• Basic person and place descriptive abilities
• Number, time, quantity, and cost use
• Daily life receptive understanding skills
• Written usage to express situations, give instructions and explanations, communicate opinions, and narrate and comprehend stories
• Specific terminology use based on students' needs

Course Structure

80 hours theoretical including

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Applied Linguistics 2011: 32/5: 475–494  Oxford University Press 2011

Applied Linguistics 2011: 32/5: 475–494  Oxford University Press 2011
doi:10.1093/applin/amr016 Advance Access published on 20 May 2011
Linguistic Skills of Adult Native Speakers,
as a Function of Age and Level of Education
1KIMBERLEY MULDER and 2,*JAN H. HULSTIJN
1Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen and 2University of Amsterdam
*E-mail: [e-mail]

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بسيار مهم - حتما ملاحظه فرماييد - شاید برایتان مهم باشد

لطفاً به اطلاع عزيزانتان برسانيد. به مادر، پدر،
خواهر و برادراني که به اينترنت دسترسي ندارند بگوييد .... فراموش نکنيد ...

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اتفاقی نادر/ کلاهی گشاد بر سر ببر مادر ! +تصاویر

فرهیختگان آنلاین: در اتفاقی نادر در باغ وحشی در کالیفرنیا بچه خوکهایی که پوست ببر به تن کرده بودند ببر ماده‌ای را که به دلیل از دست دادن فرزندانش دچار افسردگی شده بود نجات دادند. به گزارش آخرین نیوز به نقل از مهر، در اتفاقی نادر در یک باغ وحش در کالیفرنیا یک ماده ببر بچه هایی سه قلو به دنیا آورد که به دلیل برخی عوارض دوران بارداری بچه ببرها زودتر از موعد به دنیا آمدند و به دلیل جثه بسیار کوچکشان بلافاصله از دنیا رفتند.

بر اساس این گزارش ببر مادر بعد از بهبودی از به دنیا آوردن بچه ها، ناگهان شروع به از دست دادن سلامتی خود کرد، هرچند که از لحاظ بدنی و فیزیکی سالم بود.

ادامه نوشته

گرانترین شیشه عطردنیا،که تنها ۱۰عدد از آن تولیدشده+عکس

به گزارش آخرین نیوز به نقل از العربیه، طى مراسم خاصى در دبى، از گرانترین شیشه عطر دنیا پرده بردارى شد. با این حال در همان ساعات اولیه از ده شیشه عطر تولید شده، هفت تاى آن به فروش رسید.

شركت "كلایو كریستین" Clive Christian تولید كننده این فرآورده گرانترین محصول جهان در زمینه عطر را No. 1 Imperial Majesty (شكوه شاهانه درجه 1) نامیده است. ظاهراً از این فرآورده هم اكنون 7 عدد به قیمت هر شیشه 300 هزار دلار پیش فروش شده است.

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سینه زنی گلر تیم ملی در هیئت عزاداری امام حسین(ع) + عکس

فرهیختگان آنلاین: دروازه بان تیم ملی دیشب در مراسم عزاداری سالار شهیدان شرکت کرد.

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ملکه انگلیس تهدید کرد!

فرهیختگان آنلاین: ملکه انگلیس کارمندانش را در صورت مشارکت در اعتصاب عمومی به کاهش دستمزد تهدید کرد . به گزارش پانا به نقل از روزنامه "دیلی اکسپرس" نوشت: ملکه الیزابت دوم کارمندان قصرهایش را در صورت شرکت در اعتصاب عمومی که در اعتراض به کاهش حقوق بازنشستگی از امروز آغاز می شود ، به کاهش دستمزد تهدید کرد .

این در حالی است که  ۱۴۰ نفر از کارمندان که در مقر رسمی ملکه در لندن ، قصر واکینگ هام و قصر های دیگر مشغول به فعالیت هستند از سوی اتحادیه صنفی خود به شرکت در این اعتصاب دعوت شده اند .

همچنین ۱۲۰۰ نفر از کارمندانی که در دستگاههای مربوط به خانواده پادشاهی انگلیس مشغول به کار هستند و عضو اتحادیه های دیگری هستند شرکت خود را در این اعتصاب  از پیش اعلام کرده بودند .

در این شرایط  سخنگوی رسمی ملکه انگلیس اعلام کرده است که کلیه مرخصی های روز چهارشنبه  لغو شده  و حقوق کارمندانی که در این روز  بر سر کار خود حاضر نشوند پرداخت نخواهد شد مگر آنکه مرخصی استعلاجی گرفته باشند .

زنی که بجای بوتاکس سیمان در گونه اش تزریق شد! +عکس

فرهیختگان آنلاین: زنی در امریکا به جای ژل در گون هایش سیمان و لاستیک درزگیر تزریق شده است.

 

 

به گزارش پانا به نقل از رویترز، تزریق سیمان به جای بوتاکس در مردی که خود را به شکل زن ها در آورده است.
راجی نارینسینگ مردی است که خود را شبیه زنان آرایش می کند و لباس می پوشد.
این مرد چندی پیش تصمیم می گیرد که گونه های خود را برجسته کند و به دکتر زیبایی مراجعه می کند این مرد زن نما به جای تزریق ژل های زیبایی، سیمان و لاستیک درزگیر در گونه هایش تزریق شده است.
پزشکی که این عمل را انجام داده هیچ مدرک پزشکی نداشته است.
پزشک خاطی دیروز پس از گذاشتن وثیقه از زندان آزاد شد.
 

آغاز ثبت‌نام آزمون دكتری تخصصی دانشگاه آزاد از یكشنبه

                        

فرهیختگان آنلاین: رییس مركز آزمون دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی از آغاز ثبت‌نام آزمون دكتری تخصصی دانشگاه از روز یكشنبه ۱۳ آذر ماه خبر داد.

عبدالله سجادی جاغرق در گفت‌وگو با ایسنا، گفت: ثبت‌نام آزمون دكتری تخصصی دانشگاه آزاد طی روزهای ۱۳ تا ۲۳ آذر ماه به صورت اینترنتی انجام می‌شود.

وی با تاكید بر اینكه دفترچه آزمون امسال تنها به صورت اینترنتی خریداری می‌شود، تصریح كرد: داوطلبان می‌توانند از طریق سایت مركز آزمون به نشانی www.azmoon.org  نسبت به ثبت‌نام خود اقدام كنند.

سجادی در خاتمه خاطرنشان كرد: آزمون دكتری تخصصی دانشگاه آزاد طی روزهای ۴ و ۵ اسفند ماه برگزار می‌شود.

عزاداری سالار شهیدان عزاداری عذاب را از مردم تهران برداشت

یکی از صالحان نقل مى كند: در خواب دیدم بانوی دو عالم زهرای مرضیه علیهاالسلام را که پیراهنى از فرزندش بدست دارد و از ظلم امت شكایت مى كند.

در خواب دیدم خداوند متعال مى خواهد برساكنان تهران عذاب نازل فرماید در این هنگام حضرت سیدالشهداء علیه السلام عرضه داشت: خدایا آنان را به من ببخشاى زیرا آنان براى من عزادارى و گریه مى كنند.

 

روضه وداع بخوان

میرزا یحیى ابهری در عالم رؤیا علامه مجلسى (ره) را در صحن مطهر حضرت سیدالشهداء علیه السلام در طرف پائین پاى حضرت در اطاق روضة الصفّا نشسته و مشغول تدریس است سپس مشغول موعظه شد و چون خواست شروع در مصیبت كند.

یك وقت كسى آمد و گفت : حضرت صدیقه طاهره سلام اللّه علیها فرمودند:

«اذكر المصائب المشتملة على وداع ولدى الشهید» یعنى مصائب وداع فرزند شهیدم را بخوان.

مرحوم مجلسى نیز مصیبت وداع را ذكر كرد و عده زیادى جمع بودند و گریه شدیدى نمودند كه مثل آن روز در عمرم ندیده بودم .

 

ادامه نوشته

خاک سرزمین کربلا

در امان از هول قیامت

علامه نورى در دارالسلام آورده كه: سید على صاحب ریاض گفت: من در دوران تحصیل، هر هفته عصر پنجشنبه به زیارت گورستان بیرون كربلا كه كنار خیمه گاه است می رفتم، شبى خواب دیدم كه بدان گورستان رفته ام و شهر از عمارت و خانه تهى است. در فكر و هراس بودم كه هاتفى گفت: خوشا به حال كسى كه در این زمین مقدس دفن شود. اگر چه با هزاران گناه باشد از هول قیامت سالم خواهد ماند و هیهات، هیهات كه كسى در این زمین مقدس دفن شود و از هول قیامت سالم بیرون نرود.(1)

 

ادامه نوشته

زیارت حریم حسینی

نجات از آتش

سید بن طاووس(ره) از محمد بن داود نقل نموده: همسایه اى داشتم به نام على بن محمد كه می گفت:

من هر ماه یك مرتبه به زیارت امام حسین علیه السلام می رفتم. وقتی سنّم بالا رفت و جسمم ضعیف شد مدّتى به كربلا نرفتم، و بعد از مدّتى پیاده روانه شدم، و در مدّت چند روز به كربلا رسیدم، زیارت كردم و نماز خواندم و چون به خواب رفتم دیدم كه حضرت امام حسین علیه السلام از قبر بیرون آمده و فرمود: اى على چرا به من جفا كردى با اینكه نسبت به من خوبى و نیكى مى كردى؟ عرض كردم: آقاى من بدنم ضعیف شده و توانایى خود را ازدست دادم و توان آمدن ندارم و چون فهمیده ام آخر عمرم است و با آن حالى كه داشتم این چند روز راه را به عشق شما بزیارت آمدم. روایتى از شما شنیدم که دوست داشتم آن را از خود شما بشنوم. حضرت فرمود:بگو. گفتم: چنین نقل شده كه «قال من زارنى فى حیوتى زرته بعد وفاته» هر كه مرا در حال حیاتش ‍ زیارت كند و به زیارت من نائل گردد من هم بعد از وفاتش او را زیارت میكنم و به زیارت او مى آیم. حضرت فرمود: بله من گفته ام، حتى اگر او را را در آتش ببینم نجاتش خواهم داد.(1)

بى ارزش كردن زیارت سلیمان اعمش كه از بزرگان شیعه ا ست می گوید: در كوفه شبى همسایه ام در خانه من بود، در بین صحبت فضیلت زیارت امام حسین علیه السلام را در شب جمعه ذكر نمودم ولی همسایه منكر بود. گذشت، فردا سلیمان و چند نفر دیگر به كربلا رفتند، امّا همسایه را دیدند كه زودتر از آنها و گریان آمده است،

علّت را پرسیدند، گفت: دیشب پس از آنكه خوابیدم دیدم قیامت بر پا شده هودجى سیاه پوش از آسمان نازل و در آن مخدره دو عالم فاطمه زهرا سلام الله علیها است، همه دستها سوی هودج دراز است و تقاضاى شفاعت دارند. دیدم نامه هایی به دست اشخاص داده می شود که در آن نوشته«امان من النار لزوّار قبر الحسین علیه السلام فى لیله الجمعه» (امان و راحتى از آتش است براى زیارت كنندگان قبر امام حسین علیه السلام در شب جمعه)

گفتم: اى بى بى عالم به من هم لطف بفرما كه من سخت به آن نیازمندم. فرمود: مگر تو منكر فضیلت زیارت قبر فرزندم حسین نبودى؟ این بدست تو نمى رسد مگر اعتقاد به فضیلت و شرافت آن حضرت را پیداكنى...(2)

فرمود: آنجا هم هستم. سپس بدست مبارك اشاره كرد بسوى ضریح و فرمود: بِحَقِّ اَمیرِالْمُؤ مِنینَ لایُقَوِّدُونَ اَحَدا مِنْ كَرْبَلا اِلى جَهَنَّم (به امیرالمؤ منین قسم كه هیچ كس را از كربلا به سوى جهنم نبرند).

ادامه نوشته

پیامبران خدا و سرزمین نینوا

آدم در كربلا

وقتی حضرت آدم علیه السلام مرتکب ترك اولى شد از بهشت رانده و بر زمین فرستاده شد، محل هبوط او در مكّه معظّمه بوده است. آدم علیه السلام بر روى زمین حركت كرد و بیابانها و دشتها را زیر پا گذاشت تا گذار او به سرزمین كربلاى پر بلا افتاد. وقتى به آن سرزمین رسید، ملاحظه كرد كه گرد غم و غبار همّ در وجودش پدیدار شد و قلبش به تنگ آمد، تا رسید به قتلگاه حضرت سیّد الشهداء علیه السلام، قدمش به سنگى برخورد كرد و افتاد - و بر اثر اصابت سرش به زمین - خون از سر حضرت آدم جارى شد، آدم علیه السلام ناراحت شد و سر به آسمان برداشت كه، بار الها آیا گناه تازه اى مرتكب شده ام كه مرا اینگونه مجازات می كنى خدایا من تمام عالم را گشتم و چنین بلائى بر سرم وارد نشد، حال آنكه در اینجا چنین عقوبت می شوم!

از جانب پروردگار عالم ندا آمد كه اى آدم از جانب تو گناهى سر نزده است لكن این همانجایى است كه فرزندت حسین علیه السلام بر اثر ظلم شهید می شود، و خداوند روضه سیّد الشهداء را خواند و حضرت آدم علیه السلام بر مصائب آن حضرت گریست. حضرت آدم عرض كرد: خدایا آن حسین كه در این جا شهید می شود پیامبر می باشد؟

وحى نازل شد كه اى آدم او پیامبر نیست، لكن نوه پیامبر آخرالزمان و فرزند دختر آن پیامبر، فاطمه زهرا می باشد. پس با رهنمایى جبرئیل چهار مرتبه بر قاتلین حضرت سیّد الشهداء علیه السلام لعن فرمودند.

ادامه نوشته